A bar with raw sewage on the ground, an employee walking through wastewater to the restaurant’s cook line, and rodent gnaw marks under a sink at a pizza joint were among the violations that forced the state to shut six South Florida restaurants last week.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Broward and Palm Beach counties. We cull through inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.
Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spotted a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR . (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
Pizza Palace, Lake Worth Beach
1962 Lake Worth Road
Ordered shut: March 22; reopened March 23
Why: 15 violations ( six high-priority ), including 55 rodent droppings found “on floor behind mixer in the kitchen,” “on floor under three-compartment sink,” “on floor in ice machine room,” and “on cabinet floor under soda machine and hand sink in the dining room.”
Rodent rub marks were spotted “on electrical pipes behind the mixer” and gnaw marks “on hole in sheet rock under three-compartment sink area.”
Other violations included “raw hamburgers separated by parchment paper stored over open french fries in upright white freezer in the kitchen” and bread stored in to-go bags in a walk-in cooler. A slicer blade was flagged for being “soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.”
The report noted that a hand-wash sink was “not accessible for employee use at all times,” with a “plastic pan stored in hand sink by the soda machine.”
A next-day inspection found two basic violations and the restaurant was allowed to reopen.
Panda Garden, Lake Worth Beach
1968 Lake Worth Road
Ordered shut: March 21; reopened March 22
Why: Nine violations ( one high-priority ), including five roaches “crawling on the wall by chest freezer in the kitchen” and “crawling on the floor between wall and reach-in cooler on cook line,” in addition to “40-plus (too many to count)” scattering when a milk crate was lifted.
Three dead roaches were found “on floor in the dining room” and “on floor between reach-in cooler and wall (area used for dry food storage).”
During the inspection, a cook preparing food was not wearing a hair restraint and a box of oil was stored on the kitchen floor.
Panda Garden was able to reopen the next day after a follow-up visit found one basic violation .
Bei Jing Chinese Food, Fort Lauderdale
3045 N. Federal Highway
Ordered shut: March 20; reopened March 21
Why: 14 violations ( two high-priority ), including five live roaches “under dry storage rack in kitchen,” “under office chair in front of prep table” and “crawling on wall behind Frigidaire freezer.”
About 19 rodent droppings were found in the kitchen “in metal tray on dry storage rack” and “under dry storage rack.”
Sink problems included no soap provided, slow drains in the hand-washing and mop sinks; and “water leaking from pipe and/or faucet/handle … under hand-wash sink at rear exit,” as well as a “hand-wash sink at rear exit used to store carton boxes.”
An employee’s open drinking cup was found on a prep table next to a double boiler.
The restaurant reopened after no violations were found the next day.
Mad Chicken, Fort Lauderdale
3045 N. Federal Highway, Suite 60B
Ordered shut: March 21; reopened March 21
Why: Five violations ( one high-priority ), including wastewater “backing up through floor drains onto kitchen floor, ware-washing area under three-compartment sink and at cook line under fryer” and “seeping through partition wall into dry storage area at front counter.”
The report also noted that an employee was seen “walking through wastewater from ware-washing area to cook line,” and that pieces of cardboard were “used to cover wastewater at cook line.” Other issues included: “floor drain at three-compartment draining very slowly and overflowing with wastewater” and “standing water or very slow draining water three-compartment sink.”
The violations were corrected the same day and the restaurant was allowed to reopen.
McDonald’s, Palm Beach Gardens
9880 Alternate A1A
Ordered shut: March 19 and 20; reopened March 20
Why: Three violations ( two high-priority ), including about 11 rodent droppings found in areas such as “the dining rooms under tables,” “by mop sink at the back of the kitchen,” “by dry storage” in the same kitchek area, “by water heater by walk-in cooler,” “under front counter by registers” and “under front counter/sauces rack.”
The inspection also found “one live fly by water heater,” “one dead fly in the dining room,” and flooring that was soiled or had an accumulation of debris “throughout the kitchen/equipment.”
The McDonald’s location was ordered shut the next day as well with a high-priority violation, but it was cleared to reopen that same day after a third inspection found zero issues.
Scandals Saloon, Wilton Manors
3073 NE Sixth Ave.
Ordered shut: March 19; reopened March 20
Why: Four violations ( one high-priority ), including “raw sewage on ground with evidence of feces and toilet paper at open sewage pipe located at rear of building between the kitchen and walk-in cooler (beer cooler).”
The reported noted that the raw sewage was in “close proximity” to a dining area and two outside bars at the back of the building. There were also “objectionable odors coming from area where sewage (was) located,” and a “hand-wash sink in kitchen (being) used to store eating trays.”
The establishment reopened the next day after a follow-up inspection found no violations .
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